The Yuletide Portal
by protejerinnocencia
Summary: It started out as a day at home playing Scrabble. It turned into a time travel fiasco. Things get interesting whenever a Halliwell is involved.


**The Yuletide Portal**

The Manor was quiet from the outside. The sun was streaming through the attic windows, reflecting off the surface of the Scrabble board set on the floor. Three sets of footsteps echoed and soon deposited three adults were deposited around the board. Wyatt set down the bowl of chips and salsa while Chris popped the cork out of a bottle.

"You two are such alcoholics," Melinda teased, accepting a snifter of tequila.

"So what are you?" Wyatt taunted back, tossing back a shot.

"Hey it makes things interesting," Chris interjected, laughing as he set the bottle down next to him.

"Can we just get this started?" Melinda asked, grabbing a handful of chips. Wyatt and Chris shared a look and both reached for the game pieces lying in the top of the game box. The two brothers moved in front of the box, shielding it from their sister's view.

"Guys, what are you two up to?" she probed.

"Nothing, just making sure all the pieces are here," Chris answered, handing her a letter holder and tossed seven tiles at her. She rolled her eyes but took the game pieces. Wyatt grabbed a handful of his own and Chris did the same. Melinda rearranged her letters, trying to see any words she could come up with. The attic had grown quiet, except for the soft shuffling of game pieces and the clank of the tequila bottle against the shot glasses.

"Are you going to go?" Wyatt asked after a long five minutes had passed.

"Don't rush me," Mel muttered, rearranging her letters again.

"Oh come on, you've been flipping tiles for five minutes. Just pick a word and put it down," Chris retorted. They seemed anxious to get the game underway and Melinda had no idea why. It was just a boring Saturday afternoon. She glanced at her letters once more and finally picked five letters. She set them down on the board going diagonally spelling 'F-L-Y-E-R'. Just has she laid down her final piece and was reaching for new tiles, the 'y' started to glow.

"What the hell is going on?" she asked, eying her brothers suspiciously.

"No clue," Wyatt answered. Both he and Chris scooted back a few inches. Just as Melinda realized what they'd done it was too late. The portal had sucked her in and deposited her in the past.

"So how pissed do you think she's going to be when she gets back?" Chris asked, pouring himself another shot of tequila.

"Probably pretty pissed. But maybe we won't be here when she gets back," Wyatt answered, tossing back a handful of chips.

When Melinda's head stopped spinning she looked around. She was still in the attic but Wyatt and Chris were gone, as was the scrabble board. She spotted the Book of Shadows situated on the pedestal. The shelves on the walls seemed as unorganized as usual. The only difference was a handful of toddler toys scattered around the room.

"I'm going to kill you guys," she hissed at the silent attic. The jerks had sent her back in time. The question was how far back in time had they sent her. Slowly she made her way to the Book and started flipping through it. She was trying to see if any of the spells she'd learned growing up were in there yet. She was so absorbed in looking that she didn't hear the footsteps coming up the stairs.

"Who are you?" Paige asked. Melinda looked up, completely startled.

"I…um…this is not what it looks like, I swear," she babbled.

"Yeah…so what is it supposed to look like?" Paige accused.

"Because it looks to me like you're trying to steal that," she added.

"I'm not trying to steal the book," Melinda protested but Paige had heard enough. She was advancing on the girl. Melinda closed her eyes, an astral copy appearing behind Paige.

"The hell?" Paige murmured. Astral Melinda began running down the stairs as her real self tried to get past Paige.

"Phoebe! Piper!" the youngest Charmed One shouted as she disappeared in blue and white lights.

"What…what are you yelling about?" Phoebe asked, spotting astral Melinda.

"She was trying to steal the book," Paige informed her sisters.

"Oh for crying out loud," Piper groaned, coming into view. She was pregnant, very pregnant. She flicked her hands at Melinda and sent her flying into the next room. Astral Melinda collided with the Christmas tree, sending it toppling over. Several ornaments shatter and the tree fell out of the stand, water leaking onto the carpet. By that point the real Melinda had managed to get downstairs.

"There's two of them?" Phoebe exclaimed.

"Piper, you broke the tree!" Paige exclaimed.

"Wait! I swear I wasn't trying to steal the Book," Melinda protested, her astral self disappeared.

"Please…just listen to me. I don't know how I got here," the young woman explained.

"You have two minutes to explain who you are and what you want. I'm already late as it is," Piper grumbled. Melinda looked from her mother to her aunts and back again.

"Ok so I do know how I got here. I was playing scrabble…and my idiot brothers created a time portal and well…I put a letter down and 'bam' here I am," Melinda said in one breath.

"So you're a witch?" Piper interrupted.

"Yes, I'm a witch…um…what's the date today?" Melinda answered.

"December 23rd, 2006," Phoebe answered.

"Oh I'm so going to kill them," Melinda ground out.

"Do you have a name? Or should we just call you astral girl?" Paige asked.

"Ok…seriously…what stick do you have up your ass today?" Melinda shot.

"Excuse me?" Piper demanded.

"I'm sorry….it's just you're not going to like this at all….I'm…your daughter…about twenty years in the future," Melinda admitted to her mother. Piper immediately glanced down at her large abdomen.

"You're telling me Wyatt and Chris sent you here?" Piper asked, looking shocked.

"Yes. I knew it was bad idea to let them drink tequila and play with magic," the twenty-year-old mumbled.

"Jus tout of curiosity…is your birthday in the next couple of days?" Phoebe interjected.

"Um…" Melinda trailed off, looking for the nearest clock.

"Actually….today's my birthday," she answered.

"Honey…what's going…" Leo called, appearing in the doorway with a suitcase and Wyatt and Chris in toe.

"Meet Melinda…twenty years from now," Phoebe introduced with a giggle.

"Uh…I thought we took care of our children coming back from the future," Leo murmured, eying his wife.

"Nice to see you too Dad…blame those two little monsters," Melinda said, giving Leo a quick hug.

"What…they did this?" Leo asked.

"Never mind. Just…it will hurt your head too much," Melinda dismissed his question.

"Well…let's get going. We have a niece to welcome," Phoebe said, ushering people towards the car. Melinda watched them go and just as Chris was at the door, he turned around and offered his hand to her. She gave him a smile and took it.

"I guess I've been invited," she announced, buckling the two-year-old into his car seat.

"Aren't you worried about…you know…the unknown consequences of being here when you're born?" Paige asked.

"I'm not Chris," Melinda snorted.

Fifteen minutes later, the rather large family walked through the automatic doors and stopped at the reception desk. The woman sitting behind the desk looked over the tops of her glasses at the two small boys gripping Leo's hands.

"I'm afraid children under the age of seven cannot be in the room," she said in a nasally tone.

"I can watch them," Melinda offered.

"Are you sure?" Phoebe asked.

"Yeah…it will give me something to do and besides, I need to think of a way to get home," Melinda answered, whispering the last part. The receptionist gave them visitor passes and a nurse appeared with a wheelchair.

"I don't need that," Piper said dismissively.

"Honey, I think you should," Leo said firmly, laying a hand on her arm. She pulled it form his grasp and went to sit down in the chair. In her huff she missed it by just a half inch and slid out of the seat. Leo rushed forward, catching her before she landed on the floor.

"Told you I don't need one," she grumbled and the nurse just followed behind the group. Once they'd reached the maternity ward, Piper bent down to give each of her son's a kiss.

"You be good for Melinda, ok. No fighting," she told them. Wyatt nodded and gave her a smile.

"Mommy loves you," she called as she disappeared into a room. Melinda sighed and took one boy in each hand and led them to the play area. There were a few other kids in the area. Melinda took a seat on the couch and sighed. Her brothers certainly were cute at this age. Suddenly the couch shifted and Wyatt climbed up next to her.

"Hi there," Melinda said, ruffling his hair.

"Sister," he said. She laughed a little.

"You're pretty smart aren't you," she said.

"From the footer," he said, mispronouncing "future" as only a four-year-old could.

"Let's not go saying that to other people," she whispered. My eye drifted over to Chris. He was climbing up the small slide and was about to go down when he stopped. He tried to get through the top part of the slide but made no progress. One of the other boys in the area started to laugh and crept up behind Chris. With a solid shove, he sent the two-year-old flying, tumbling over the side.

"Chris!" Melinda gasped, rushing to his side. He has a small scrape on his arm. Tears had started flowing from his eyes. She had stopped paying attention to Wyatt. That was of course until she heard the oddly distinctive sounds of a goat. She turned her head ot see a Billy goat and Wyatt giggling.

"Wyatt…you change him back right now," she ordered. His lower lip quivered into a pout but she just looked at him sternly. The four-year-old blinked and the boy returned to his rightful appearance. He backed quickly away from Wyatt.

"Don't hurt my bruver," he said and went and gave his younger sibling a hug.

"Ok…listen to me guys. We can't do anymore magic. We don't want to get in trouble. So promise we won't do any more magic until we get home with you new baby sister," Melinda said, pulling both boys aside out of earshot. Both of the boys nodded their agreement. Little did they know but some serious magic was about to go down in the maternity ward.

"Come on, Piper, keep pushing," Phoebe coached. All of the midwife training that she and Paige had done for Wyatt's birth was coming back to her. Piper was taking short breaths, trying to breathe through the pain. Just outside the door came a very loud noise.

"What the hell is that?" Piper demanded, her face turning red.

The noise become a series of sounds now….voices singing…or yodeling rather. Piper screwed her face up as the door opened and four people walked in. They were dressed in lederhosen and were belting out Christmas carols.

"Get the hell out of my room. Can't you idiots see I'm having a baby?" Piper shouted angrily at them. One of the singers stopped and gave her a smile, a fire ball forming in her hand.

"Ah," Piper cried out, feeling the ripping pain of another contraction. She threw her hands out and froze the room. She quickly blew up the demons and unfroze the room, the pain of childbirth consuming her thoughts once more.

Half an hour later, Melinda, Wyatt and Chris were permitted into the room. Piper was gazing down at the new born infant, Leo leaning over her shoulder. Phoebe pulled Melinda into a hug.

"Happy Birthday," Phoebe whispered.

"Um…thanks…even though it's early August in my time," Melinda answered.

"You know…you can see the resemblance," Piper joked, patting the edge of the bed. With a mischievous smile, Wyatt took Chris by the hand and orbed both of them onto the bed.

"They never listen," Melinda sighed.

"So….when are they releasing you?" the future daughter questioned anxiously.

"I don't know…probably tomorrow. Why?" Piper answered.

"Well the spell to get me back…is a Power of Three spell," Melinda explained.

"Well I guess you get to stay here overnight," Paige said, giving her future niece a smile.

"Guess so," Melinda said with a nod.

The next afternoon Piper was indeed permitted to go home. The trio found themselves in the attic facing Melinda. Piper was seated in a chair with her sisters on either side of her.

"I love you Mom. And don't worry….I was a good baby," Melinda said, giving her mother a hug.

"Bye. I love you," Piper murmured. With that she took her sisters' hands and they began to chant.

"A time for everything and everything in its place. Return what was moved through time and space," they chanted and Melinda disappeared in white lights. She reappeared in the attic to find Wyatt and Chris downing the rest of the tequila.

"You guys are toast," she shot at her older brothers sending them scooting back several feet with a blast from her hands.

"So…where'd you end up?" Chris asked. He was clearly the more sober of the two. Of course sober was a relative term when it came to the two of them.

"Oh…I don't know…the day I was born! I had to baby-sit your sorry asses," she answered harshly. Wyatt's forehead wrinkled.

"Why am I remembering a goat?" he asked.

"Probably because your smart ass turned a kid into one for pushing Chris off the slide," Mel answered.

"Dude…that's pretty awesome," Chris said.

"You two are such losers," Melinda said, storming off towards the stairs.

"Hey…where are you going?" Wyatt called after her.

"Anywhere but near you two morons," she answered and the front door slammed.


End file.
